Falling From the Stars
by yesimahuman
Summary: A semi-songfic about Ichigo, his hollow, and their thoughts about rain. Ichigo always hated rain, but now he's come to appreciate it. Rated T for swearing. Uses four lines from Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends."


Almost a songfic. If considered one, the song used is "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day. Set before Orihime is taken away and after Ichigo becomes a Vizard.

Falling From the Stars

Kurosaki Ichigo hated rain in every single one of its despicable forms. He hated light drizzles. He hated downpours. He hated the annoying pitter-patter sound of the rain as it hit the ground, and he hated the feel of the cold water running down his skin. Ichigo's mother had been taken away from him in the rain, and since then, the rain was hated with a fanatic fervor rivaled only by Matsumoto's addiction to alcohol.

Rain had been despised forever, but ever since he had become a Shinigami, Ichigo though he still hated the rain, had begun to appreciate its existence. There were so many things in the universe that sought to harm his family and friends. When he had become a Shinigami, a hollow had almost killed his entire family. Byakuya and Renji had taken away Rukia, and the Gotei 13 had tried to execute her. Aizen's Arrancar had almost invaded Karakura and slaughtered all of his friends.

There was no way in hell that Ichigo would let them hurt his companions. Every time a new enemy had threatened Ichigo's friends, Ichigo would defeat it, and if he couldn't do it the first time, he would train so that he could the next. Urahara had trained him so that he could invade Soul Society and Zangetsu had helped him accomplish Bankai so that he could defeat Byakuya and save Rukia. For this, he was eternally grateful.

And when the hollow inside him had threatened to take over, he had trained with the Vizards to stop it. The insane bastard would kill, Ichigo knew that much. Ichigo did not know what the hollow would do, but he had no doubt in his mind that whatever the hollow did would hurt his friends.

The rain reminded Ichigo of his mother's death, and his mother's death angered him. He had been too weak to protect his mother, but he was strong now. The hated rain whispered stories of pain and despair in Ichigo's ear, but every time it did Ichigo resolved to fight harder against his enemies.

And because of this, Ichigo was grateful that it rained.

On that day, when Ichigo saw the drops of water falling from the stars, his eyes hardened, and he went to Urahara's basement to train.

----

"You know one thing I like about Ichigo?" Ichigo's hollow said. "His _consistency._"

Zangetsu tried very hard to pay attention. He really did. But the two of them were inside Ichigo's soul 24/7, and Zangetsu had learned the hard way that if you spent enough time with someone without any input from an outside source they began run out of interesting things to ramble about.

"No, seriously!" the hollow exclaimed, gesturing to the storm raging above them. "Every time it rains in the real world, there's a freaking _storm _in here!"

"You've made that point before," Zangetsu observed.

The hollow grinned madly. "So what?"

Zangetsu sighed heavily. "It becomes rather repetitive," he confessed.

The hollow shrugged. "Your problem, not mine!"

"But of course," Zangetsu growled, "after all, I'm the one trapped with a hyperactive _freak _every single day!"

"Yeah, and I'm the one trapped with what's got to be the dullest Zanpakuto in Soul Society. Face it, Zangetsu, even _Ichigo _calls you 'old man!'" the hollow joked.

"Shut up, hollow," Zangetsu commanded.

"Fine, fine," the hollow grumbled. Lightning raced down from the sky, headed towards the hollow. Almost lazily, he batted away the lightning strike. Zangetsu prepared himself for the coming storm- not from Ichigo, but from the hollow.

"Looks like Ichigo's getting worked up again," the hollow muttered. Another bolt of lightning, hurtled from the sky, glanced off of the hollow's hand. "And it seems like he's thinking about me! Oh, joy. I feel so loved."

As the hollow deflected yet another strike of lightning, Zangetsu couldn't help but appreciate Ichigo's resolve. "Even when he's training, he never stops subconsciously trying to get rid of you, does he?" Zangetsu muttered, too softly for the hollow to hear.

"So, so, loved," the hollow said. "So FUCKING LOVED!"

Zangetsu winced at the sudden collapse of the hollow's cheerful façade. He felt himself being pulled towards the hollow. The Zanpakuto blacked out for a moment, as he did every time he was summoned, and woke up in the hollow's hands.

"Getsuga Tensho!" the hollow roared. A crescent of white reiatsu raced upwards towards the storm. It cleaved through a cloud, and kept going on and on, until it disappeared. Breathing heavily, the hollow released Zangetsu, and the sword's true form appeared beside the hollow.

Zangetsu didn't say anything. When the hollow was upset, Zangetsu had discovered that the best way to handle things was to do nothing and let him vent.

----

Ichigo stopped training when he heard someone enter the underground basement. Wiping the sweat off of his brow, he turned towards the intruder. "Rukia," he said, breathing heavily. "What is it?"

"It's two in the morning," the Shinigami said, obviously irritated. She was still dressed in her pajamas, and judging by her droopy eyes and unkempt hair, she had just woken up. "What the hell are you _doing _here?"

Ichigo turned away and gripped his sword again. "What does it look like, midget?" he said tersely. "I'm training."

"Why are you training _now_?" Rukia asked, irritated.

Ichigo ignored the question. "How did you find me?"

Rukia, judging that the heinous crime of ignoring Kuchiki Rukia deserved punishment, kicked Ichigo in the face. "Answer my question, stupid."

Ichigo rubbed his face in pain. "What the hell was that for?!"

"You ignored me, and now you're avoiding my question," Rukia proclaimed, and in response to Ichigo's newest crime, kicked him in the face again.

"Fuck," Ichigo muttered. "I came here because I was bored, alright? Leave me alone."

"Don't give me such a half-assed excuse, Ichigo," Rukia said. "Was it the rain?"

Ichigo ignored the non-question and continued training, swinging Zangetsu down over his head again and again. He knew that Rukia knew the answer.

"Stop training, Ichigo, you can always do it later. Go back to bed," Rukia commanded, even though she knew that Ichigo would ignore her. She was right- Ichigo didn't stop.

Rukia's eyes softened. "You're not going to stop, are you?"

Ichigo, unexpectedly, responded. "No, I'm not, so don't even try."

"Think about yourself for once, Ichigo!" Rukia shouted. "Don't be the protector-idiot!"

Ichigo stopped swinging his sword. "The what?" he asked, confused. Rukia rolled her eyes.

"You know! The big, strong, idiot who always sacrifices himself for others! He's always a guy, preferably tall-"

"Rukia," Ichigo said slowly, "you've been reading far too many of Yuzu's romance mangas."

Rukia sighed. "Just take it easy, okay? Everybody's going to be fine," she said.

"But I," Ichigo said, resuming his training, "can't be sure of that. I don't want any blood. I don't any more pain, and I don't want any more tears."

And when it rained at night, Ichigo was always the most appreciative of the falling droplets. When the rain came crashing down to earth it seemed to Ichigo like the stars themselves were crying. The rain reminded Ichigo of tears that he had shed for his mother, and the rain reminded him of tears he didn't want to shed for anyone anymore.

_Here comes the rain again,_

_falling from the stars._

----

The rain kept falling down in Ichigo's world, but the stars never came out. No matter what the weather was, it was always day. Ichigo's hollow wasted his time trying to guess the exact time in Ichigo's soul. He never figured it out.

The hollow hated lightning. He had first experienced the lightning after Ichigo's little visit to Soul Society. The storm had come unexpectedly, and suddenly, the hollow found himself bombarded by lightning strike after lightning strike. The bolts were easy to bat away, but they hurt. Zangetsu had explained that the bolts were a product of Ichigo's subconscious and that there was no actual conscious intent behind them. The hollow didn't care. All that meant to him was that Ichigo had already labeled the hollow as an enemy who deserved to be oppressed, even when he wasn't actually thinking about hurting him. Whenever the lightning was hurtled from the sky, Ichigo's hollow knew that Ichigo would always hate the hollow for a crime he hadn't even committed.

_Drenched in my pain again,_

And the hollow doubted himself, again and again. Was he really human? Was the storm a just, preordained punishment that the hollow deserved? _Was he a monster?_

The hollow refused to believe that he was a monster, because that would mean that he deserved to be locked up in a cell. It would mean that he deserved to be subject to the raging storm inside Ichigo's soul.

The hollow held firm to the belief that he was_ human, _even though his skin was white as snow and his eyes were the wrong color. Just as Ichigo had given the hollow an absolute label as an enemy, the hollow gave himself an absolute label as a human. You could not change Ichigo's definition of the hollow any more than you could change the hollow's definition of himself.

The hollow knew that the moment he let himself believe that he was a monster he would become one. The moment that the hollow lost faith in his own humanity he would lose the humanity itself- so he never lost faith.

_Becoming who we are._

_ ----_

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